this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2025
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[–] [email protected] 40 points 6 days ago (2 children)

"moving characters to a virtual field when an event is triggered" (entering a battle)

How is that a legit patent, when there are so many obvious instances of prior art?

[–] [email protected] 46 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Even if there weren't a million examples of prior art, the fact that patents on game mechanics are even allowed is just awful for the industry as a whole, and we as players should absolutely rail against this. Every game borrows from other games' ideas and mechanics - I'd bet money that there hasn't been a single fully "original" game in 20+ years. If companies are allowed to patent every little mechanic (even ones they didn't come up with), the industry as a whole will just become impossible to operate in.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago

Every game borrows from other games' ideas and mechanics

It's not only games, this is just straight-up how art works. Culture develops over time. Of course capitalism had to get a middleman in there lol

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

the fact that patents on game mechanics are even allowed is just awful for the industry as a whole

Yes, definetly.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's a Japanese patent. I'm not sure how it would hold up internationally, but Pocketpair is also a Japanese company and this lawsuit is entirely within the Japanese legal system. That probably gives Nintendo a bit of an advantage since they're such a large and iconic Japanese corporation.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Copyright is already cooked, no matter where it's located. But the way japan acts as if Pokemon invented JRPG battles is simply ridiculous.

[–] otp 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

the way japan acts as if Pokemon invented JRPG battles is simply ridiculous.

Am I missing some bit of context? Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy still exist (and came first).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

That's what I meant with "prior art". Nintendo's second patent basically explains how any old JRPG worked.